- Donald Trump said that the Civil War could have been negotiated.
- He said that he believed Abraham Lincoln could have done more to avoid violence.
Former President Donald Trump declared that the Civil War, which was primarily fought over the issue of slavery, could have been negotiated.
"The Civil War was so fascinating, so horrible — but so fascinating," Trump said at a campaign event on Saturday.
"I'm so attracted to seeing it. So many mistakes were made. See, there was something I think could have been negotiated, to be honest with you. All the people died, so many people died."
Trump spoke about how "vicious" the war was and suggested that then-President Abraham Lincoln could have done more to avoid violence.
"Abraham Lincoln, of course, if he negotiated it, you probably wouldn't even know who Abraham Lincoln was," Trump said. "He would've been president, but he would've been president, and he would have been — he wouldn't have been the Abraham Lincoln."
The Civil War has become a talking point for Republican primary contenders in recent days.
At a different event in Iowa on Friday, Trump also criticized Nikki Haley for not using the word "slavery" when talking about the cause of the Civil War. Haley has since said: "Of course, the Civil War was about slavery."
'Elementary school nonsense'
Historians have disputed Trump's views that the war that killed 620,000, ending with the defeat of the southern Confederate states by the Union, the reunification of the United States, and the abolition of slavery, could have been stopped through negotiations.
David Blight, a history professor at Yale University, told The Washington Post that Trump's suggestion the war could have been negotiated was "elementary school nonsense" and "historically ignorant."
James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, told The Washington Post that southern states were not willing to negotiate, partly because of the issue of runaway slaves.
"The declarations of secession explicitly state that the seceding states were leaving the Union to maintain that system, and because many northern states were refusing to return escapees from that regime. This could not be 'negotiated,'" he said.